My god, and we thought Boris was the king of waffle!

“I’m 95% sure I stopped on the way back down to fill up with petrol, but I can’t be sure,”

How can he not remember that? It's quite a long journey!

Offered or ‘offered’, I wonder? This is a girl of a similar age to those whose parents wouldn’t want them to go back to school because they don’t feel it’s safe.

Cummings also said his son needed to go to hospital - a hospital onto which he was putting an unnecessary burden by travelling away from home. Weren’t we all told not travel so we didn’t put a strain on local services - Protect The NHS.

A feeble attempt at post-justification which could not possibly convince anyone with an ounce of critical faculty

You will be hard pressed to find anyone up here, spitting distance from where he was staying, with an ounce of sympathy for him or his family.

The press conference began very late (so rude).

I think they decided to give him another tranquilliser and had to wait for it to take effect or perhaps they decided to use the hypnotist after all.

I was really surprised that he lasted for over an hour without exploding.

I'm still not convinced though; there are too many loose ends.

It's not just because I dislike him or his politics. He was being so uncharacteristically reasonable I was able to put my dislike aside and concentrate on his arguments.and they just don't hold water.

Some of the points have already been raised on this thread. I will come back later when I have had a chance to watch it again.

Will he resign? No.

Will Johnson sack him? No.

But if the anger from the general public of all political persuasions goes on Johnson might get the push from the people who actually run the Conservative Party because frankly he won't be a vote winner any more and that will get rid of Cummings as well.

Boris is definitely still the king of waffle, phoenix. Tonight's briefing is excruciating.

When all else fails, just resort to telling people to wash their hands.

After the first 10 minutes I suddenly realised that I could have been listening to DH. In a similar situation he would have come up with a similarly convoluted solution and we would have all be dragged along with him. The test drive to see if he would be able to get back to London was the sort of thing DH had done so many times - usually with me sitting beside him muttering "This is a really bad idea" I've always thought Cummings was on the spectrum and now I'm sure. He shares DH's inability to understand that other people see things differently. It's difficult to live with and I would have thought it was really undesirable in government.

Deedaa, yes that might explain (but not excuse) a lot. Driving to test eyesight seems ridiculous to you and me of course.

Parts of it reminded me of another cringeworthy interview last year.

At least Pizza Express was closed

No-one can criticise him for safe guarding a child but you do it with minimum risk to others not maximum risk. By going to Durham he exposed five others to risk as he and his wife were displaying symptoms. Minimum risk would have been arranging for sister or eldest niece to come to them.

Cummings wife can drive. Why did he need to test his eyesight with the child in the car when she could have driven them back???

Deeds: I’m glad you said that. It’s something I’ve been thinking for a while and listening to him today convinced me that I was right. He truly couldn’t see why he should apologise because he can’t see anyone else’s point of view.

I agree about Johnson being the king of waffle. I haven't seen a briefing yet where he actually answers a question. I think it was Beth Rigby who asked him whether he believed the government had made mistakes in dealing with the virus. He spent about 5 minutes telling everybody what a wonderful job the government had done - and the civil service, and delivery drivers, local councils and nurses, and doctors .......... Then it was the end of the briefing.

Driving with impaired eyesight is an offence.

When I have my diabetic eyesight tests, I have drops put in my eyes, which sting and make my eyesight blurry.

On the letter telling me about the appointment, there's always a strict instruction not to drive.

Yes, she can drive. Somebody called Andrew Gimson wrote a biography about Johnson. Mary Wakefield worked at the Spectator when he was editor and there's a reference to her driving in it. (I guess she could have been banned since then or otherwise become incapable of driving.)

Sorry I can't do the link.

He wasn't "safeguarding" the child. He was allegedly "seeking childcare" - as many others have had to do.

The exemption to children leaving the family home was included for those at risk of abuse.

I can remember being really ill with food poisoning with 2 young children and putting the tv on and letting them pull everything off the shelves. Most parents cope. They did not have to drive. I’ve done shopping for sick neighbours and left it their doorway. Was there no one within a 260 mile radius of the Cummings who would have done the same? Those who thinking he’s acted responsibly are obviously in thrall to this mans dogma.

I thought he ran home from 10 Downing Street because his wife was ill.
The last time I looked, 10 Downing Strert was in London.

Then, according to his wife's story, the next day she was better but he was really ill, in bed for 10 days and she and the child nursed him, then emerged to a lockdown London.

So how did they get to Durham and when?

Is it just me who remains confused?

But, after seeing his wife was ill she seemed a bit better so, even though she probably had Covid he returned to Downing Street because the country obviously cannot be governed without him. Even though he should have self isolated immediately for 14 days and stayed in his main residence. I’m sure that’s what he said but, unfortunately I’m going to have to listen to it again.

So, did he infect Boris?

I'm beginning to wonder if any of the family had coronavirus.

The cabinet are falling like flies, his wife's birthday is coming up. He's running to his car because she's got the bags packed.

Who is going to argue if you 'have symptoms?'

Boris rapidly going downhill. You're hardly going to get a call from the boss!

The only one tested was the child in hospital and he didn't have it!

Forgot to mention the bit about his wife's birthday.

Maybe a nice little getaway jolly?

Which fell flat on its face.

Oh, I've mentioned the wife's birthday twice.

Time I went to bed.